Cryptocurrency transactions with synchronized images

ABSTRACT

A value is exchanged between accounts held by users of two portable electronic devices. The devices synchronize disappearance of the image at the sending device and appearance of the image at the receiving device to give the impression that a physical object representative of the value has been exchanged (e.g., handed) between the users.

BACKGROUND

Computerized currencies and payment systems, such as cryptocurrencies,allow people to exchange money without having to exchange a banknote,check, or other physical object.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A to 1C are schematic diagrams of two portable electronic devicesparticipating in a transfer of a value using synchronized disappearanceand appearance of an image representative of the value, in which FIG. 1Ashows the sending device with the image, FIG. 1B shows the receivingdevice capturing the image, and FIG. 1C shows the receiving device withthe image.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example portable electronic device tosynchronize the disappearance and/or appearance of an imagerepresentative of a value of a transaction conducted using the portableelectronic device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method of sending a value with synchronizeddisappearance and appearance of an image representative of the value atrespective sending and receiving devices.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method of receiving a value with synchronizedappearance and disappearance of an image representative of the value atrespective receiving and sending devices.

FIG. 5 is a signal diagram of an example transaction with synchronizedappearance and disappearance of an image representative of the value ofthe transaction.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example value-representing image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example animation of a value-representingimage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The adoption of certain kinds of computerized currencies and paymentsystems has been limited due to their cumbersome or unintuitive nature.Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, are often only appealingto tech-savvy people who can understand their use. The average personfaces may obstacles in understanding and using the typicalcryptocurrency. Even those skilled in computer technologies may havedifficulty using cryptocurrency. And even when usage is understood,there are often many steps to actually participating in a transfer.

The present disclosure aims to simplify the usage of computerizedcurrencies and payment systems by providing techniques for the intuitiveand fast exchange of value. This is contemplated to help more peoplebecome comfortable with using computerized currencies and paymentsystems.

With reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C, which shows an example transaction,the present disclosure aims to improve the usability of computerizedcurrencies and payment systems, particularly cryptocurrencies that maybe exchanged using portable electronic devices, such as smartphones 10,12. Two users who wish to transfer an amount of a cryptocurrency betweenthem ready their smartphones 10, 12. The user sending the money has animage 14 representing the money appear on the screen of their phone 10.The user receiving the money then scans the image using their phone'scamera 16. The scanning initiates the underlying transaction, which mayoccur at a server system at which the users hold accounts (e.g., in thecloud). Once the transaction is complete, the phones 10, 12 synchronizethe disappearance of the image 14 from the sending user's phone with theappearance of the image 14 at the receiving user's phone, so as tovisually simulate the physical conveyance of a physical object, such asa banknote, represented by the image 14. The synchronization of thedisappearance and appearance of the image 14 provides the illusion ofthe users exchanging a physical object representative of the valueexchanged. The users may thus feel that the transaction has beencompleted with the same permanence as the exchanging of cash. Theanalogy is that the sending user pulled some cash from their wallet orpurse by displaying the image 14, held the cash out by holding out theirsmartphone 10, and that the receiving user took the cash in their handby scanning image 14 with their smartphone 12. The image 14 appears tomove or jump from one phone to another in much the same way that a billmoves from one person's hand to another.

FIG. 2 shows an example portable electronic device 20 which may be usedas either or both of the smartphones 10, 12 discussed above.

The device 20 includes a display device 22, a camera 24, acommunications interface 26, and a processor 28 connected to the displaydevice 22, the camera 24, and the communications interface 26. Thedevice 20 may include additional components, such as those normallyfound in a smartphone or tablet computer, and these are not discussedfor sake of clarity.

The device 20 may further include a non-transitory computer-readablemedium (CRM) 30, which may be a combination volatile and non-volatilememory, such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and flash memory.The processor 28 may be connected to the CRM 30 to perform operations,such as storing and retrieving data and executing program code toperform the functionality discussed herein. Program code may be storedin the CRM 30 and may include instructions, which may be directlyexecutable (e.g., a binary file) or indirectly executable (e.g.,bytecode).

The device 20 may operate in a value-sending mode, as with device 10above. The value-sending mode may be realized by value-sending modeinstructions 32 stored in the CRM 30. The device 20 may also operate ina value-receiving mode, as with the device 12 above. The value-receivingmode may be realized by value-receiving mode instructions 34 stored inthe CRM 30. The instructions 32, 34 may communicate with a service thatprovides for the exchange of value, such as cryptocurrency, via thecommunications interface 26. Such a service may use a blockchain torecord transactions.

The device 20 may be associated with an account with the service. Assuch, the CRM 30 may store account identifier 36. The account identifier36 associates the device 20 with an account at the service and allowsthe device to send or receive value via the service. The instructions32, 24 may reference the account identifier 36 to transfer value at theservice in an authorized manner. The instructions 32, 34 may requirethat the user of the device 20 authenticate themselves by entering ausername/password or by providing a biometric (e.g., a fingerprint orface scan). The instructions 32, 34 may communicate with the service viathe communications interface 26 to authenticate the user. The user maychoose to remain authenticated for a period of time, such as 1 day, 30days, 90 days, 1 year, or until the user logs out.

The device 20 may include an application or “app” that implements thefunctionality discussed herein, including the value-sending mode,value-receiving mode, account log in, image capture, imageappearance/disappearance, etc.

With reference to FIG. 3 , the value-sending mode instructions 32 mayimplement a value-sending method 40 at the device 20 to transfer a valueto an account of another device 20 operating in the value-receivingmode.

At block 42, the display device 22 is controlled to display an imagerepresentative of a value to be sent from the account associated withthe portable electronic device 20 to the account associated with theother portable electronic device 20 that is in the value-receiving mode.As a condition to displaying such an image, the sending device 20 mayauthenticate the user of the sending device 20 with the service withrespect to the sending account identified by the account identifier 26and confirm that the account contains at least the value desired to betransferred. Authentication may be done once for a period of time inadvance of the transaction, so the transaction may be carried outsmoothly.

At block 44, the communications interface 26 is controlled toparticipate in a transfer of the value to be sent between the accountsin response to the other portable electronic device 20 capturing theimage with its camera 24. As a condition to allowing capture of theimage, the receiving device 20 may first authenticate the user of thereceiving device 20 with the service with respect to the receivingaccount identified by the account identifier 26. As with sending,authentication may be done once for a period of time in advance of thetransaction, so the transaction may be carried out smoothly. Thetransfer of value may be executed by the service. That is, the value maybe removed from the sending account and added to the receiving account.This may include adding information to a blockchain.

At block 46, the disappearance of the image from the display device 22of the sending device 20 is synchronized with the appearance of theimage at the receiving device 20, so as to give the users of the devices20 the impression that something physical has changed hands tocomplement the transfer of value at the service.

With reference to FIG. 4 , the value-receiving mode instructions 34 mayimplement a value-receiving method 50 at the device 20 to receive avalue from an account of another device 20 operating in thevalue-sending mode. The method 40 may be referenced for detail notrepeated below, such as detail concerning the authentication andexecution of the transfer by the service.

At block 52, the camera 24 of the receiving device 20 is controlled tocapture an image representative of a value to be received by the accountassociated with the receiving device 20 from the account associated withthe sending device 20. The image is captured while being displayed bythe sending device, such as by block 42 of method 40.

At block 54, the communications interface 26 is controlled toparticipate in the transfer of the value represented by the captureimage. This may include the communication of the account identifier 36to the service as the receiving account for the value selected by theuser of the sending device 20. As such, the service may be informed asthe receiving account. It is noted that the receiving device 20 need notdecode information in the image to determine the value because, by thetime the receiving device 20 captures the image, the value has alreadybeen set by the sender. Rather, the receiving device 20 may decodeinformation in the image to identify the transaction to which theassociated receiving account is a party.

At block 56, the appearance of the image on the display device 22 of thereceiving device 20 is synchronized with the disappearance of the imagefrom the second device 20, so as to give the users of the devices 20 theimpression that something physical has changed hands to complement thetransfer of value at the service.

With reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C, synchronization of the appearance anddisappearance of a value-representing image 14 may use a timer at eachof the devices 10, 12 involved in the transaction. For example, thedevices 10, 12 may communicate with each other or with a server toestablish a common time and then carry out the appearance/disappearanceof the image 14 at an agreed amount of time after the common time. Theagreed time may be set so that the disappearance and appearance of theimage 14 occur within, for example, about 2 seconds of each other.

For example, two devices 10, 12 may exchange information with a serverto perform a transaction. During the exchange, the devices 10, 12 mayinform the server of their local clock times. The server may select aduration required to complete the transaction, such as 0.5 seconds, andinform the devices 10, 12 to perform the appearance and disappearance ofthe image 14 at their respective local clock times plus this duration.Hence, even if the local clock times are quite different, the transitionof the image from one device to another may be made in a synchronizedmanner.

In another example, the devices 10, 12 directly share information abouttheir respective local clock times via a short-range communicationssystem, such as Bluetooth™ or Wi-Fi™.

The duration selected (e.g., 0.5 seconds) may be selected to allowcancelation of the transaction if, for some reason, it fails. The windowof time may encompass the expected time to carry out the transaction atthe server with additional time to communicate a cancelation signal tothe devices 10, 12, so that the devices 10, 12 do not appear/disappearthe image 14 if the transaction fails.

The duration may be selected to account for communications and/orprocessing latency between the devices 10, 12 and server. This is toavoid disrupting the illusion of physical exchange by having theappearance of the image 14 on the receiving device 12 lag thedisappearance of the image 14 on the sending device 10, or vice versa.For example, if the image 14 appears on the receiving device 12 asignificant time before it disappears from the sending device 10, orvice versa, the users of the devices 10, 12 may be confused as towhether the transaction occurred properly or may just feel that thesystem does not accurately simulate physical exchange.

The synchronization is configured such that the image 14 does not appearon both of the devices 10, 12 and is not absent from both of the devices10, 12 for longer than a predetermined time that is selected to visuallysimulate the physical conveyance of a physical object represented by theimage 14. The predetermined time may be selected, for example, as 2seconds, so that the image 14 does not appear on both of the devices 10,12 for more than 2 seconds and/or is not absent from both of the devices10, 12 for more than 2 seconds. This prevents the users from mistakenlybelieving that both or neither have the value. The synchronization maybe so configured to achieve other such predetermined times, such as 1second or 3 seconds, as long as the time provides the illusion ofexchanging a physical object represented by the image 14.

It is also contemplated that the image 14 as displayed on the sendingand receiving devices 10, 12 is substantially similar, if not identical.In various examples, the image 14 appears the same, so as to convey theillusion of physical transfer. Differences in how the image 14 isdisplayed, such as resolution, aspect ratio, brightness, and similar,may be required because of different configurations of the devices 10,12. However, it is contemplated that such differences are expected byusers and will not disrupt the illusion. In addition, small differencesin the content of the image 14 may be tolerated, provided that they donot disrupt the illusion.

FIG. 6 shows an example of conducting a transfer with synchronizeddisappearance of an image that facilitates the transfer.

First, a sending device 10 initiates 70 a transfer with a server 60 thatholds accounts for a cryptocurrency or similar electronic financialinstrument. A user of the sending device 10 may log into their accountand select an amount to transfer.

The server 60, in response, sets up the transfer by, for example,putting a hold on the amount selected by the sending user. Further, theserver 60 sets a code 72 for the transfer. The code may be a uniqueidentifier, such as a hash, that identifies the pending transfer. Anyonepresenting this identifier to the server 60 would be considered therecipient of the transfer. Note that this is a simplification forexplanatory purposes.

The server 60 then sends a confirmation 74 to the sending device 10indicating that the transfer has been set up, in that it's a validrequest with sufficient funds. The sever 60 also provides the code tothe sending device 10.

The sending device 10 then displays 76 an image with the code, such as abarcode, QR code, or custom machine-readable code. The sending device 10may generate the image on the basis of the code and/or the amount of thetransfer, so that the image shows the code and/or amount or othersignifier of the value.

The receiving device 12 then captures 78 the code as displayed by thesending device 10 by, for example, using a camera.

The receiving device 12 then submits 80 the code to the server 60 alongwith account information identifying the account of the recipient userof the receiving device 12.

The server 60 receives the code and the account identifier of therecipient and conducts 82 the transfer by, for example, posting thetransfer to a blockchain.

The server 60 then synchronizes 84, 86 the sending and receiving devices10, 12, so that the image may appear to move from the sending device 10to the receiving device. To synchronize 84 with the sending device 10,the server 60 requests a local clock time of the sending device 10, addsa delta time to the sender's local clock time to obtain localimage-disappearance time, and then communicates the localimage-disappearance time to the sending device 10. Likewise, tosynchronize 86 with the receiving device 12, the server 60 requests alocal clock time of the receiving device 12, adds a delta time to thereceiver's local clock time to obtain local image-appearance time, andthen communicates the local image-appearance time to the receivingdevice 12.

The sending device 10 waits 88 until the image-disappearance timeoccurs, and then hides 90 the image. Likewise, the receiving device 10waits 92 until the image-appearance time occurs, and then shows 94 theimage. The durations waited 88, 92 may be different (e.g., due tonetwork latency, or clock differences in the devices), whereas they endat substantially the same time. Note that the receiving device 12 maygenerate the image independently of the sending device 10 doing same onthe basis of the code and/or the amount of the transfer, so that theimage shows the code and/or amount or other signifier of the value. Thecode may bear the amount transferred or the server 60 may communicatethe amount to the receiving device 12.

As such, the image that represents the value of the transaction isremoved from the sending device 10 at about the same time that it isdisplayed on the receiving device 12.

An alternate transfer 100 may actually take more time than is needed tosynchronize the devices 10, 12 to hide and show the image. Thesynchronization provided by 84-92 may be conducted in parallel with mostor all of the time it takes to perform the transfer. This approach maybe useful in systems that need significant time to conduct the transfer,provided that the risk that the transfer cannot be completed istolerable.

FIG. 6 shows an example image 110 that is machine-capturable and conveysa sense of value to users.

The image 110 may include a machine-readable code 112 to trigger thetransfer of a value. In this example, the code 112 is a QR code. Variousother examples of machine-readable codes are discussed elsewhere herein.

The image 110 may include a human-readable indication 114 of the value,such as a number representing the amount in a specific national currencyor cryptocurrency. Various different values may be shown at the sametime.

The image 110 may include a predominant color 116 (shown bycrosshatching) representative of the value.

FIG. 7 shows an example animation for the value-representing image 110of FIG. 6 . A device may play such an animation when synchronizing thedisappearance/appearance of the image 110. For example, a sending devicemay play a sending animation as the sequence of frames A-B-C-D to causethe image 110 to disappear, whereas a receiving device may play areceiving animation as the sequence of frames D-C-B-A to cause the image110 to appear.

It should be apparent from the above that a transfer of value may besignified in an intuitive way, so as to promote the use of computerizedcurrencies and payment systems, such as cryptocurrencies, and give theusers the same impression as exchanging cash or other physical object.

It should be recognized that features and aspects of the variousexamples provided above can be combined into further examples that alsofall within the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, thefigures are not to scale and may have size and shape exaggerated forillustrative purposes.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable electronic device comprising: adisplay device; a camera; a communications interface; and a processorconnected to the display device, the camera, and the communicationsinterface, the processor to operate in a value-sending mode and avalue-receiving mode; wherein, in the value-sending mode, the processoris to: control the display device to display an image representative ofa value to be sent from an account associated with the portableelectronic device to an account associated with another portableelectronic device that is in the value-receiving mode; control thecommunications interface to participate in a transfer of the value to besent between the accounts in response to the other portable electronicdevice capturing the image with its camera; and synchronizedisappearance of the image from the display device with appearance ofthe image at the other portable electronic device; wherein, in thevalue-receiving mode, the processor is to: control the camera to capturean image representative of a value to be received by the accountassociated with the portable electronic device from the accountassociated with the other portable electronic device that is in thevalue-sending mode, wherein the image is captured while displayed by theother portable electronic device; control the communications interfaceto participate in a transfer of the value to be received in response tocapture of the image; and synchronize appearance of the image on thedisplay device with disappearance of the image from the other portableelectronic device.
 2. The portable electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe processor is to agree on a time with the other portable electronicdevice to synchronize the disappearance and appearance of the image,such that the disappearance and appearance of the image occur withinabout 2 seconds of each other.
 3. The portable electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the image does not appear on both of the portableelectronic devices for more than 2 seconds.
 4. The portable electronicdevice of claim 3, wherein the image is not absent from both of theportable electronic devices for more than 2 seconds.
 5. The portableelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is to synchronizedisappearance and appearance of the image with the other portableelectronic device to provide an illusion of users of the portableelectronic devices exchanging a physical object represented by theimage.
 6. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the imagedoes not appear on both of the portable electronic devices and is notabsent from both of the portable electronic devices for longer than apredetermined time that is selected to visually simulate the physicalconveyance of a physical object represented by the image.
 7. Theportable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the image as displayed onthe sending or receiving portable electronic device is substantiallysimilar to the image as displayed on the display device of the portableelectronic device.
 8. The portable electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe image contains a machine-readable code to trigger the transfer ofthe value between the accounts.
 9. The portable electronic device ofclaim 8, wherein the image contains a human-readable indication of thevalue.
 10. The portable electronic device of claim 9, wherein the imagecontains a predominant color representative of the value.
 11. Theportable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is tocontrol the communications interface to conduct the transfer using ablockchain.
 12. The portable electronic device of claim 1, whereinsynchronizing the disappearance and appearance of the image includesplaying respective animations at the portable electronic devices at atime agreed by the portable electronic devices.